Apocalypse NCIS - Season 1
by Theodore Hawkwood
Summary: After his unexpected arrival in the 21st Century Benjamin Willard joined NCIS. This follows his adventures/misadventures on the team after his time at FLETC. Crossover with Apocalypse Now.


Marine Down

Rated: FR-18.

Author's Note: I pulled dates and the like off the episode itself and from the wikia, NCIS Database.

Summary: The events of _Marine Down _taking into account the events of _Apocalypse NCIS_ created this one-shot.

* * *

><p>Firing Range<br>8 December 2003, 0840  
>Outside of Washington, D.C.<br>United States

"Shooters at the ready position." a male voice sounded over the loudspeaker.

"Nervous, guys?" Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo said with a cocky grin, looking to his left down the firing line where Special Agent Caitlin Todd and Probationary Agent Benjamin Willard stood.

"Shaking." Kate replied, sarcastically.

"I'm ok." Ben remarked with a neutral tone.

"Sure you're not shaking because of nicotine addiction?" DiNozzo quipped, noticing the cigarette Ben had positioned on his right ear.

The siren sounded and the three agents, along with many others began firing at their targets. Then the siren sounded again.

"Cease fire. Cease fire. Clear and lock all weapons. All locked now shooters check your targets." the speaker sounded.

"Nervous Tony?" Kate remarked as she, Tony and Ben headed to check out their targets, each showing a burly thug holding a female hostage.

"Nice tactical reload, Kate." DiNozzo remarked to Kate, "And I'd have thought you would shoot a lot faster, Probie Orange."

"Contrary to popular belief spray and pray isn't in any military manual I am aware of." Ben quipped.

"Kate, you only got your guy twice." DiNozzo remarked, indicating his cluster of five rounds around the center of the terrorist's face, and comparing it to the fact that only two of Kate's rounds had struck the terrorist in the head, with her other rounds to the left of the terrorist.

"And Probie, probie, probie, only four rounds on the terrorist's head? Where's that famous Army training you talk about."

DiNozzo indicated the four holes clustered around the nose and right eye of Ben's target, before his finger indicated a hole in the hostage's hair, "And one hole in the hostage too?"

"Hey, it literally went through her hair." Ben protested.

"Looks like I win, guys." Tony proclaimed with a toothy grin.

"What are you talking about, you shot the hostage's ear off?" Kate remarked indicating the fact that one of Tony's bullets had taken the hostage's ear off, "I'd say Ben won before you did, at least all he did was give her a discount haircut."

"In my defense, none of my training in the Army covered hostage rescues." Ben replied.

"It still had to cover marksmanship." Kate countered.

"True. Hence the fact that in your own words all I did was give the hostage a discount haircut." Ben quipped.

"Hate to, pun intended, cut in but my hostage will live." Tony chimed in.

"Yeah, _without_ an ear." Kate replied.

"It's not bad." Gibbs replied, as he walked in among his three team members, "All three of you, not bad. Of course these targets don't shoot back."

"That must be next week." Kate quipped.

"I've dealt with targets that shoot back before." Ben added, "Just they didn't have hostages."

"Kate, I think you're holding back. Shoot with confidence." Gibbs said, before setting his hand on Kate's shoulder and massaging it, "Relax your shoulders."

"Ben, not bad, but I think you're anticipating recoil…" Gibbs said, indicating Ben's shot that had gone higher and to the right of the terrorist's nose, hitting the terrorist in the right eye.

"And that you're also anticipating recoil." Gibbs remarked, pointing at the hole in the hostage's hair.

Then Gibbs turned his attention over to Tony's target, simply saying, "Tony, it's a nice grouping."

"So I win?" Tony replied.

"We're just getting warmed up." Gibbs said, taking a roll of duct tape in one hand, "Give me your cover."

"What for?" Tony replied, puzzled.

Gibbs simply stared at Tony and the latter reluctantly conceded, removing his cap and saying, "Right."

Then Tony, as Gibbs began to tape the hat to the hostage's face, began to protest, "Oh come on boss! I've been breaking that cap in for three months. I love that cap."

"Then don't shoot it." Kate quipped.

Kate handed her own cap to Gibbs with a smile, but then Gibbs reached over to Kate's belt and grabbed Kate's PDA.

"Did you back this up?" Gibbs asked with a grin as he began taping the PDA to the hostage's head.

"No, no, Gibbs!" Kate protested, "Come on! my whole life is in that thing."

Gibbs replied, "Then don't shoot it."

Kate's protests continued, "Gibbs, come on."

Gibbs turned to Ben and the former Army officer replied, "Alright Boss, what do you want from me, my cell phone? My hat? Both?"

Gibbs reached into chest pocket of Ben's shirt and pulled out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes with a metal Zippo lighter that sported the crest of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

"Hey, Boss!" Ben protested, "I carried that lighter through three tours in 'Nam. It's my good luck piece."

Gibbs put the lighter into the mostly empty cigarette pack and taped the pack and lighter to the head of the hostage on the target.

"Like I told Kate and Tony, don't shoot it then." Gibbs said, walking back towards the firing line, his three agents behind him.

"We screw this up I have a suggestion." Kate began.

"What?" Tony replied.

"We break into Gibbs' basement and we set his boat on fire." Kate suggested.

"Count me in." Ben replied, with a wry smile, "As an aside, I do like how you think."

"That's cold, Kate, I knew there was a reason I liked you." Tony replied.

Just as they arrived at the firing line, Gibbs' cell phone rang, "Gibbs."

After a few moments he added, "Yeah, we're on it."

"What's up?" Tony asked.

"A Marine wife buried her husband yesterday. Somebody thought it'd be fun to call her up on the phone and harass her." Gibbs replied.

"Since when do we investigate crank calls?" Kate asked, a quizzical look on her face.

"Since the guy calling is claiming to be her dead husband." Gibbs replied.

The announcement on the loudspeaker began, "On the firing line. Ready on the right, ready on the left."

"Fire." Gibbs said, "Let's see how you do under pressure."

"I'll bring the lighter fluid." Tony said.

"I'll bring the matchbox and we can each strike a match." Ben added.

Kate looked at both Ben and Tony before saying, "Deal."

The siren sounded and the three agents began firing their weapons.

* * *

><p>Navy Yard, NCIS<br>8 December 2003, 1033  
>Washington, D.C.<br>United States

"Very cool." Abby Sciuto said as she walked into the bullpen where DiNozzo was currently putting his finger through the 9mm bullet hole in his cap.

"Where can I get one of these?" Abby remarked.

"You can have that one." DiNozzo intoned.

"Really?" Abby said, with her ever present smile, "Thanks."

Standing in the background Ben divided his time between the phone call with a foul tempered old and likely frumpy secretary at Quantico and observing Abby and DiNozzo interact.

Abby certainly was one unique individual, that was for certain. He had learned, rather quickly, that no other Goth was anything like Abby. Hell the one he ran across Georgia during FLETC was just the definition of bitter and cynical. _Definitely a study in contrasts. _

Ben watched as Abby donned Tony's ballcap with a bemused look. Abby was a lot more cheerful than most Goths he had ever encountered over the last couple of months.

"So, you said you needed help?" Abby asked.

"Yeah," DiNozzo replied, as his fingers typed away rapidly, "I'm trying to pull up the records on a dead marine, but my security access won't go through."

"It's because computers can sense fear, Tony." Abby remarked sarcastically before asking, "Name?"

"Major Jim Kidwell." said Tony, adding, "He was working at Quantico. Mobile Training Teams. This is his social."

Abby reached over, arms over the tops of and typed it in as Tony asked, "Is that a new perfume, Abby?"

"Yep?" Abby said, "You like it?"

"It smells like gunpowder." DiNozzo quipped.

"Sweet, huh?" Abby asked.

"Mmm." DiNozzo commented.

"Here's your problem." Abby replied.

"What?" DiNozzo asked.

"Your security clearance isn't high enough." Abby replied, "How did he die?"

"That's kind of what Gibbs wants me to find out." Tony replied.

"Then it sucks to be you." Abby replied as she walked off.

* * *

><p>Kidwell Residence<br>8 December 2003, 1145  
>Quantico, Virginia<br>United States

"In most of these cases, the caller turns out to be someone you know" Gibbs said, as he and Kate sat across from Mrs. Kidwell in the Kidwell's living room, "Old boyfriend, coworker."

Mrs. Sarah Kidwell gestured with her hands as she spoke, "Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but the voice I could swear it was Jim's."

"Sometimes, in situations like this, you hear what you think sounds like someone you know…" Kate began as Gibbs cut in.

" I'd like to put a trace on your phone, Mrs. Kidwell. In case he calls back." Gibbs began.

"What happens if it's Jim?" Mrs. Kidwell asked, and then the doorbell rang and she stood up to answer it with an, "Excuse me."

When she was out of earshot Kate asked quietly, "It couldn't have been her husband, could it?"

They could hear the sound of pleasantries being exchanged in the house's foyer.

"Hi."

"Hey, guys."

"Hi." Clearly children, a boy and a girl it sounded like, were present.

"Why don't you guys go outside and play? It's okay." Their mother, Mrs. Lisa Peary, said softly, "I'll be along in a minute."

"Okay, mommy." said the little girl.

"Let's go." the little boy replied.

Sarah Kidwell returned to the two agents and introduced her friend, "Agent Gibbs, Agent Todd, this is Lisa Peary. Her husband was in the same unit as Jim."

"They, um died together." Lisa replied.

Kate stepped forward towards the two women, "You have our sympathies."

Lisa replied, "What we'd really like is some answers. You know, we accepted the fact that our husbands couldn't always tell us where they were, what they were doing. We played the game. We were good Marine wives."

"You have to understand, all we got back were two sealed caskets." Sarah added.

"And now Sarah gets this call from Jim." Lisa replied.

"Or someone impersonating him, Mrs. Peary." Kate replied.

"We don't even know how they died. Are you telling me you wouldn't start to wonder?" Lisa replied.

* * *

><p>Navy Yard, NCIS<br>8 December 2003, 1244  
>Washington, D.C.<br>United States

"What did you find out about our dead marine?" Gibbs asked as he and Kate walked into the room.

"He was involved in classified stuff." DiNozzo replied.

"And?" Gibbs asked.

"I didn't have high enough clearance to access the records." DiNozzo replied.

"Any luck, Willard?" Gibbs asked Ben next.

"I just got a runaround when I tried contacting the personnel department in Quantico." Ben grumbled, toying with his last cigarette in his left hand.

"What's your clearance?" Kate asked.

"Confidential." Tony replied.

"Confidential? What did you do? Kill someone in high school?" Kate asked as she headed over to the computer, around the same time as Ben put the phone handset on his desk down and headed over to the same computer screen.

"Ha! Not funny, Kate." DiNozzo replied,"No, they screwed up my paperwork with another agent's."

Ben started chuckling and DiNozzo sourly remarked, "That's morbid, Probie Orange."

Gibbs' dead panned, "Apparently, Dinozzo died in a car crash last month. Very tragic."

Ben chuckled again and DiNozzo glared at him before he remarked, "They yanked my clearance, so now I got to take a physical to get it back."

"Why is that?" Kate asked as she attempted to enter her own access information.

"To prove that I'm still alive." DiNozzo remarked.

"That's gonna be tough, seeing how you're practically brain dead." Ben quipped.

"Very funny." DiNozzo remarked.

"Any luck?" Gibbs asked.

"Access denied." Kate replied, with a raised eyebrow, "And I was cleared for Air Force One."

Gibbs remarked, "So was an Al Qaeda operative."

Tony remarked, "Gibbs will get in. He's got clearance that will let him see the dead aliens at Area 51."

"'Cause he probably killed them." Kate replied.

"Hmm! Looks like someone is deliberately blocking us." Gibbs remarked after he attempted to gain access himself.

"Sounds like it to me." Ben remarked, again turning his cigarette in his hand.

"Or a glitch." Kate replied, "Everything doesn't have to be a conspiracy against NCIS, guys."

"Are you saying we're paranoid, Kate?" DiNozzo remarked.

"Some smart guy did say that it isn't paranoia if people are trying to kill you." Ben quipped.

"If the shoe fits." Kate replied.

"Consider me paranoid then." Ben quipped with a slight smile.

The telephone rang just then and Gibbs picked up the phone, "Yeah. Gibbs. Uh-huh.

I know where it is. Mm-hmm."

After Gibbs hung up he said, "That was Kidwell and Peary's commanding officer. We are being blocked."

"Okay." Kate replied, "I admit, that is strange."

"He wants to meet with us." Gibbs began.

"When?" DiNozzo asked.

"Right on, let's roll." Gibbs said as he walked from the room.

"Thanks for the new cap, Kate." DiNozzo said as he walked out of the room, grabbing his own coat.

"Not a problem." Kate replied, grabbing her coat, "Only wish my warranty covered bullets."

Kate threw her now damaged PDA in the trash as Ben followed her as well, mentioning, "Wish I had time for this last cigarette, I could use one."

He held up his Zippo lighter, it's lid having a hole in it, "Unbelievable. This thing survives 3 tours in Vietnam only to get a hole shot through it here in States."

Ben grabbed his own coat and tucked his lighter into his pocket, somehow, some point today he was gonna get through that last cigarette as he followed Kate, DiNozzo and Gibbs out. It seemed like today was conspiring against him smoking his surviving cigarette after the 9mm round had destroyed his other three as well as damaging his lighter.

"By the way, the offer still stands for assisting you guys with setting Gibbs' boat on fire." Ben quipped as he caught up to Kate, "For poetic justice though I think we should use my lighter."

"I agree." Kate replied.

* * *

><p>Marine Corps Base Quantico<br>8 December 2003, 1430  
>Quantico, Virginia<br>United States

Lieutenant Colonel Walsh spoke plainly as he said, "I appreciate you meeting me out here. I wanted to keep this conversation off the record."

"Why is that, Colonel Walsh?" Gibbs asked as he, Tony, Kate and Ben followed the Walsh around outside of the Mobile Training Team building.

"Because Kidwell and Peary were good men." Walsh replied.

"Their widows seem to think so." Gibbs said.

"I want to keep it that way." Walsh replied, and then added, "Are you familiar with mobile training teams? They serve as military advisors in foreign countries."

Gibbs replied, "Among other things."

"Kidwell and Peary were working out of country. Op was classified, but had nothing to do with their deaths." Walsh replied.

"Why seal the records then?" Gibbs replied.

"Because the way they died." Walsh countered, as the foursome walked, "Look, when you work with the foreign military, you kind of have to go native."

Tony noticed Ben looked like he was lost in thought, mentally filing away Probie Orange's thinking to ask about it later.

"You have to live breathe the culture." Walsh replied, "Kidwell and Peary tended to take that approach to the extreme."

Both Kate and Tony notice the wheels in Ben's head seemed to be turning faster and faster. They didn't think much of it, after all counterintelligence work was what Ben did for two tours of three in Vietnam.

"Define extreme." Gibbs replied.

"We found them in a brothel." Walsh explained, "They had a dispute with one of the local prostitutes. She poisoned them."

Gibbs asked, "With what?"

"Local police said formaldehyde." Walsh answered,

"Formaldehyde?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, she put it in their drinks."

"So you used the classified nature of the operation to cover it up." Gibbs filled the blanks in pretty quickly.

"I didn't want to exactly call Lisa and Sarah and tell them that their husbands died because they pissed off a whore." Walsh answered.

"Probably a good call." Tony replied.

"Look, they weren't angels, but they were damn good Marines." Walsh let the statement hang for a few moments before adding, "And I'd rather they be remembered that way."

"Any idea why someone would call and impersonate him?" Gibbs asked.

"None. But I hope you catch that son of a bitch." Walsh replied before adding, "Look, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work."

"Uh, just one more thing, colonel." Gibbs began, "I'm still going to need to see the records."

"I just told you what happened." Walsh replied.

"Yeah. Yeah, you did." Gibbs replied.

"I'll see what I can do." Walsh replied.

After he was out of earshot Gibbs turned to his three agents.

"His body language matches that of someone telling the truth." Kate began.

"The story sounded plausible if sordid." Ben replied, "After running recon missions in the jungle guys would sow the wild oats out and about in Saigon and other places."

"Or he's one hell of a liar." Gibbs concluded as his cell phone rang and he answered it, "Yeah. Gibbs."

It was after a few moments that it was clear that Gibbs was talking to Abby when he asked, "What did you find?"

Ben turned to Kate and Tony, "I'm gonna go smoke this one."

He held up the same cigarette he had been turning in his fingers earlier and reached into his pocket for his lighter.

He was about to walk off when Gibbs asked, "You able to trace it?"

He waited as he overheard Gibbs' response, "That's right outside the Marine Corps Base in Quantico."

Then Gibbs took off.

"Where's he going?" Tony asked.

"We'd better follow him and find out." Ben remarked.

"For once, Probie, I agree with you." Tony replied.

"Color me surprised." Kate quipped as she followed her two coworkers after Gibbs, as he headed for the Mobile Training Teams office.

"Can I help you, sir?" A corporal said from behind a desk.

"NCIS." Gibbs said, and with just that for preamble he began, "I need to talk to your CO, Lieutenant Colonel Walsh."

"He's in a meeting right now, sir." The corporal said.

"Here?" Gibbs asked as he headed for the meeting room.

The corporal protested, "Sir, I don't think you heard me."

"Oh, he heard you." DiNozzo remarked.

Gibbs barged into the meeting without any preamble, as the corporal belatedly called out, "Sir?"

"Where's Colonel Walsh?" Gibbs asked, as he surveyed the room, finding no sign of the tall Caucasian he had spoken to earlier.

An African American with the silver oak leaves of a Lieutenant Colonel answered, "Right here."

Sometime later in the real Lieutenant Colonel Walsh's office Gibbs cut straight to the point, "Someone is going to a lot of trouble over a crank phone call, Colonel."

Kate interjected then, "Like an illegal wiretap on Sarah Kidwell's phone."

"And a guy pretending he's you." Tony added.

"Not to mention phone calls from a supposedly dead man." Ben added, to re-emphasize the point,

"The point is simple: I want to know why." Gibbs replied.

"That makes two of us, Agent Gibbs." The irate Marine replied, "You think I like getting Marines back in boxes?"

"Why don't we start with how Majors Kidwell and Peary died?" Gibbs replied.

"Well, that's need to know." Walsh countered.

"Trust me, I need to know." Gibbs replied.

"Unfortunately, it seems I don't." Walsh commented, "Their records are sealed, and every inquiry I've made has been shot down."

Gibbs replied,"You have two dead marines, Colonel. Are you trying to tell me you don't know how they died?"

"This is an admin command. When my teams deploy, they could be working for any one of a dozen agencies. They don't report to me." Walsh replied.

"Who did Kidwell and Peary report to?" Gibbs replied.

"Officially, the State Department." Walsh said, and after a pause he added, "Unofficially? You're going to have to figure that one out for yourselves, Agent Gibbs."

"Now, what does that sound like to you, Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"It sounds like one of the A's. CIA, NSA." Tony replied.

_Fairly obvious. _Ben thought, having been on exactly those sorts of ops himself for much of his second and all of his third tour in Vietnam.

"About those boxes you got back, Colonel, what about them? Did you stop to see if your men were inside them or is that need to know, too?" Gibbs ask, letting the question hang in the room.

* * *

><p>To Be Continued...<p> 


End file.
